Todays ratings results show the
amount of time young people listen
to radio across Australia has
increased significantly this year
compared to the same period last
year, chief executive officer of
Commercial Radio Australia, Joan
Warner said today.The figures show
that people aged between 18 and 24
increased the time they spent
listening to radio in the first
survey period for this year by one
hour and 46 minutes to nineteen
hours and 36 minutes a week up
from seventeen hours and 50 minutes
in survey one last year,
Ms Warner said.This is
indicative of a trend over the past
few years which shows that
commercial radio continues to gain
in popularity among younger
listeners which is great news for
the industry..Recent
trends research, conducted by
Nielsen Media Research of its
ratings surveys over five years,
shows young people (aged 18-24)
spent one hour and three minutes
more time listening to commercial
radio in 2003 (18 hours 31 mins in
an average week) compared to
1999.The research also shows that
commercial radio reached 81.5 per
cent of people aged between 18-24 in
2003 compared with 78 per cent in
1999.Today's young people
love radio because it complements a
faster-paced lifestyle and it is
also the most interactive and
immediate medium.Younger
audiences, particularly the
under-25s, have access to new
technology and mobile phones, and
they have taken very quickly to
interacting with their favourite
radio stations and DJs via email and
SMS to request songs, have their say
or enter competitions, Ms
Warner said